Personally, I think the Communist Manifesto is Prole-feed, and makes great abstractions of history in order to make its arguments. The Wealth of Nations is both better written and more informative, IMO (though admittedly I haven't read Das Kapital because it's a bajillion pages long). What are your thoughts, Sup Forums?
Nicholas Powell
they're both essential
Justin Diaz
The Communist Manifesto is a propaganda pamphlet meant for industrial workers. The Capital is the academic work. Marx doesn't go against the Wealth of Nations or Adam Smith. He read him and incorporates his writings into his own, adding other things as well. Marx's biggest contributions aren't in economics.
Wyatt Jackson
Das Kapital is a ponderous tome, certainly not "prole feed" but neither it nor TWoN are anywhere near relevant for contemporary politics or economic strategy. The most that academics can do with Marxism is critique pop culture (see zizek) and "Capitalism" has always been a spook to cover for the continued world oligarchy of powerful clans and factions. OP you should read the poem "The Masque of Anarchy" by Shelley and then tear into some Foucault and based Kissinger.
William Lopez
Find me a non-automaton audiobook of Das Kapital and I'll listen to it while I work.
I was referring to the Manifesto - I haven't read Das Kapital yet. I'll look into the poem.
Jayden Johnson
The difference between capitalism and generic oligarchy is how exactly this oligarchy works, in contrast to previous oligarchies. Also, saying "you know, there'll always be a ruler guys" doesn't have some special value to it. You told us nothing,
James Adams
It's impossible to do that. You need a physical book and a pen & paper for notes.
Grayson Howard
Wealth of nations should only be compared to "Das Kapital", and not the "Communist Manifesto"..
>(though admittedly I haven't read Das Kapital because it's a bajillion pages long The wealth of nations has 1200+ pages, you fucking pleb. Reading the child abridged version or listening to an audiobook doesn't count..
This is why there's so many "an-caps"; Noone reads books they claim they read.
Nathaniel Flores
Haven't read them all fully but from what I've read: Communist manifesto is meme tier propaganda, pure shit Wealth of nations is great and looks in depth at how and why economies behave the way they do (one of the oldest and still most important economics books) Das kapital is good too and critiques the industrial society and its impacts on workers (also still an important book)
Robert Bennett
And this picture explains why genocide is ok.
Isaac Sanders
And all of this doesn't matter because you need to know other things before reading these books. Start with some basic philosophical and historical books, like Introduction to X. Get some used books and read them before trying to disprove Marx.
Aaron Morris
You are ignoring the functional definition of an Oligarchy..if one honestly assesses the operation of the state and economy, the abstraction "capitalism" becomes meaningless, insofar as any abstraction is inadequate to describe what happens in practice. The functions and institutions of power today is not easy to distinguish from that of a classical Oligarchy. Calling it capitalism is like confusing the finger that points at the moon for the moon itself. Autonomy has always and will always be tangential to the existential struggle of the individual against or in collusion with power (I.e. the Will of other individuals) any attempt to codify this reality is an attempt at mythology.
Wyatt Moore
this.
I would recommend Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics".. It's a nice all-inclusive philosophical ramble on society of ancient Greece.
Angel Wood
Greece, why did you economy fail?
Brayden Gray
You probably think that's so very deep. It's not wrong, but I mean, everybody knows this already. Does this mean that no more books should be written about anything, because everything can be reduced to our pathetic human condition? Sounds like a nice excuse to do nothing.
Elijah Walker
It's actually Bruce Lee.
Nathaniel Diaz
It would be an excuse to do nothing only it is impossible to actually do nothing. Personally I feel people need to examine their own actions instead of writing endless fairy tales for the elite to scrutinize and mask their essentially selfish lives.
Eli Lopez
All communist arguments of all varieties are full of logical holes, ranging from glaringly obvious to subtle, obviously impractical to complex and requiring an understanding of economics.
All of them have also been utterly refuted and those who still support communist arguments are either willfully delusional and immune to the words of others, or ignorant and simply do not know of the refutations, or are too stupid to understand the arguments involved (much free shit).
From an economics history perspective communist works may be an interesting read, as it's thoughts have greatly influenced the world and history, from a view to learn about economics there is little to be learned from them unless you want to see how to not do things.
David Mitchell
i havent read both yet but i plan to over the next week. so many people here are always quoting shit from the communist manifesto and i feel like i should read the whole thing for its societal value instead of just small passages
its fucking crazy how various minority groups have hijacked this meme ideology in order to push their shitty agendas
is it worth reading atlas shrugged and anything by max stirner?
William Scott
Smith wasn't an advocate of capitalism so much as an observer. Marx appreciated his observations and developed an ideology based on them.
Evan Foster
Even still, it seems to me you can learn more from the aftermath of their application than by the theory itself.
Jack Collins
It's funny that you made a post full of blanket statements, but presented no arguments, to say that communists have no arguments themselves.
Blake Gomez
>its fucking crazy how various minority groups have hijacked this meme ideology in order to push their shitty agendas
Is it really crazy? We were all exposed to this image at some point by some stoner fag in high school who had weed and rambled about how the man and the system are fucked up and don't want us to have weed because weed makes you think bro.
Aiden Gray
I've only listened to the first ten hours of TWON thus far.
Ethan Williams
Neither Smith, nor Marx is really applied today. There are modern day economists worth reading. What makes Smith and Marx so alluring is that they still offered a narrative of the big picture. They explain why some individuals or nations are poor, others rich. Today, it is close to impossible to attribute the economic situation of every individual to concrete factors.
Jeremiah Adams
Read it, and Plato's Republic, and Herodotus's Histories, and some Cicero, and other assorted Grecco-Roman texts.
Charles Evans
From what I've read, I have gathered much the same - he is more explaining the basic realities of economy than expressing a position on it.
Blake Campbell
Correct, but you can gather a way of thinking from these classical texts. You don't have to quote them word for word. Just learn how to analyze a system that's all.
Jaxon Ward
Das capital (there's three volumes of it) is way more of an analysis of capitalism than it is a development of an ideology opposing it.
Luke Foster
If you are interested in money and how and why it flows, wealth of nations is essential reading. It's essentially the book that started it all.
If you're interested in power, and no the whole Money is Power thing is a meme, the two are seperate entities, then Marx and Hegels works are essential reading even if you disagree with them.
Daniel Anderson
Competing Wealth of Nations with the communist Manifesto shows that you are a complete moron and idiot.
The Communist Manifesto was written for workers that barely knew how to read. It is nothing more than a trailer.
Compare Das Kapital with Wealth of Nations when you want to actually gain insight on both ideologies. Otherwise you are making a fool out of yourself.
>The Wealth of Nations is both better written and more informative
Surprising isn't it?
Jason Thompson
You'll notice that I called it prole-feed.
I specifically said I hadn't read Das Kapital. I thought it was fairly obvious that Das Kapital would be a more apt comparison, but seeing as how I haven't read it yet, I am not able to make that comparison. Thus, I am making a comparison with the Manifesto, which is, as you said, "meant for people who can barely read".
Joseph Wright
So you mean that greatest Marx contribution is what?
Classes and infighting of them? >Feudalism
"it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but their social existence that determines their consciousness" >False, read "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" by Max Weber >Marx did claim that what you own and what you have experienced only shapes you as a person and you can't shape you on your own >that's retarded >all left retards still believe this
